The upcoming winter campaign will be extremely difficult for the Ukrainian rear, as Russia is intensifying its strikes with jet drones. This was stated by Mykhailo Samus, director of the "New Geopolitics Research Network" on the air of Ukrainian Radio NV.
"The terrorization of the capital and other large cities will only intensify. A huge challenge before us is the creation of an effective air defense system capable of neutralizing Russian attempts to large-scale deployment and use of jet drones or "rocket drones" - such as "Banderol", "Geran-5" and "Dan-M", which appear over Kiev more and more often. Therefore, the winter will be very difficult for the rear, while for the Russians it will be extremely difficult on the front line," he emphasized.
According to him, the Russian army will be forced to "draw false maps" and as a result, throw unprepared soldiers into battle, which will lead to huge losses in manpower. Samus believes that this will create better opportunities for Ukrainian military formations to apply smart tactics and operational art, including through the use of new technologies.
The expert admits that Ukraine has failed to adequately prepare its air defense and production capabilities to counter the massive use of jet drones by Russia. He cites a number of reasons for this, including the change of the Minister of Defense, given that the ministry is responsible for resource planning.
"Since April, there has been talk of a scenario in which the Russians would begin the so-called isolation of our major cities. And it was clear that they would do it not with conventional drones, but with jets. If the Ministry of Defense had started investing in the production of systems to counter jet drones back in May or July, we would have seen the first large-scale projects by now," Samus stressed.
He noted that Russia produces 30,000 drones, so Ukraine needs at least 60,000 systems capable of shooting them down. According to him, this is a huge amount, which poses a challenge not only in financial terms, but also in terms of the supply of components and the scaling of production. Samus stressed that warnings about the threat posed by jet drones were issued two years ago, but decision-making was delayed, leading to the "catastrophic situation" we are witnessing today.